After 15 years and £500m,
92% of drugs fail in clinical trials.The FDA laments “We're using 20th century tools to develop 21st century drugs.”

What's the solution?

This groundbreaking conference addressed this burning question by bringing together scientists from industry and academia who are working at the cutting edge of developing drug safety tests. View the presentations and listen to the speakers as they explain what the future of drug safety testing holds. Key to solving current difficulties in predicting how drugs will affect patients is a shift of focus from animal studies towards technologies based on human biology. This was a recurring theme throughout the day.

The speakers came from the UK, the US, Israel, Germany and Austria, while the international nature of the conference was highlighted by the presence of delegates from as far afield as Canada, Portugal and Norway. Question time was very productive, while during breaks the conference halls buzzed with excitement as collaborations were formed and ideas exchanged.

A conference which was long overdue! Excellent speakers and programme which highlighted the importance of developing drug testing methods incorporating human tissue - Dr Philip Roberts, University of Central Lancashire

Excellent range of new and state-of-the-art technologies. Great talks, exciting prospects and challenging ideas. The field is moving rapidly and it is becoming increasingly difficult for industry to ignore these developments - Professor Chris Hillier, Glasgow Caledonian University